Apparatus for winding yarn

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for winding an advancing strand of yarn into a package is disclosed. The apparatus includes means for rotatably supporting and driving a package at a substantially constant rate of speed and means for traversing a strand onto the package as the package is rotated. Drive means for operating the traversing means is provided and regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of the drive means as the strand is traversed onto the package is included. The control means is operable in response to the regulating means to disrupt the synchronism between the rotation of the package and the traversing of the strand onto the package to thereby prevent the formation of bands or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;ribbons&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; wherein the strand coils in the package are crowded together or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;piled.

United States Patent [1 1 Richter APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARN Hans Heinrich Richter,.Warwic1 [75] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl. 242/18.1, 242/43 [51] Int. Cl B65h 54/38 [58] Field of Search 242/l8.l, 43, 158

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary Exami'ner stanley N. Gilreath Att0rney Albert P. Davis and Burnett W. Norton Winslow 242/l8.1

[57] ABSTRACT Apparatus for winding an advancing strand of yarn into a package is disclosed. The apparatus includes means for rotatably supporting and driving a package at a substantially constant rate of speed and means for traversing a strand onto the package as the package is rotated. Drive means for operating the traversing means is provided and regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of the drive means as the strand is traversed onto the package is included. The control means is operable in response to the regulating means to disrupt the synchronism between the rotation of thepackage and the traversing of the strand onto the package to thereby prevent the formation of bands or ribbons wherein the strand coils in the package are crowded together or piled.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Ill llll II II II II ll 11 PATENIEDJum mm 314mm BEGIN COMMENCE DECELERATION ACCELERATION l4 p a I F I G. 5

INVENTOR. HANS H. RICHTER EWEM DECELERATION CYCLE AT TOR N EYS APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to machines for winding up an advancing strand of yarn, thread, cord or similar material into a package and relates, more particularly, to such winding machines incorporating ribbon breaking mechanism, so-called, which operates to control the disposition of the turns of winding on the surface of the package to prevent the formation of bands or ribbdns in which the yarn coils are crowded together or piled on the package.

In the winding of strand material it has been recognized as desirable to provide some means for controlling the disposition of the turns of winding on the surface of the package to prevent the formation of bands or ribbons in which the yarn coils on the package are crowded together or piled in contiguous relation. A rather effective means for thus preventing ribboning consists in relatively accelerating and decelerating the rotational .speed of the drive for the strand traversing mechanism in a manner to interrupt the normal pattern in which the strand is coiled onto the package. In most instances this is effective to disrupt the synchronism between the rotation of the package and the traverse of the strand during winding. Such mechanisms are known in the art and such a device has been employed, for example, on the Model No. 55 5 False Twist Texturing Machine manufactured by Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., for a number of years. While the problem of preventing ribboninghas thus been successfully resolved in numerous instances with the aforementioned prior art ribbon breaking mechanisms it has been found that there are certain critical areas in package winding, particularly when winding low denier yarns, where ribboning may still occur to the detriment of the resultant package.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention,'in contemplation of the foregoing considerations, advantageously provides apparatus for winding an advancing strand of yarn into a package which includes means for supporting a package for rotation, power means for rotating the package at a substantially constant speed and means for traversing the strand onto the package as the package is rotated. Drive means for operating the traverse means are provided, and regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of the drive means as the strand is traversed onto the package are included. Said regulating means operates the apparatus in a first mode to cause speed variations of the traverse means relative to the rotational speed of the package according to a cyclical program. The inventionfurther includes control means which are operable in response to the cyclical program of the regulating means to place the apparatus in a second mode to further disrupt syncrhonism between the rotation of the package and the strand being traversed thereon. By this unique arrangement ribboning is prevented throughout the package.

Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide mechanism incorporated in the drive'means of a winding machine for disrupting the synchronism between the rotation of the package and the traverse of a strand thereon during winding.

Another object of the present invention is to provide mechanism of the type for periodically varying the speed ratio between the rotation of the package and the traverse mechanism at recurring cycles throughout package winding.

Still another object of the invention is to provide control means which operates cooperatively with regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of the drive means for the traverse means, said control means superimposing on the first disruption between the rotation of the package and the traversing of the strand thereon, caused by the speed increases and decreases, still a further component of disruption between such synchronism to thereby preclude ribbons being formed at any locus in the winding package.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the type indicated which is completely automatic in ts operation.

Further objects of the invention are set forth in the following specification and will become obvious here inafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a conven tional false twist texturing machine, with parts broken away for clarity, incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the control means of the present invention illustrating the position of the parts when engaged for driving the traverse mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the control means with the parts therein in an over-running condition to permit slippage between the motive means and the traverse means;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view .taken along lines lV-IV of FIG. 1 illustrating the gearing for imparting periodic increases and decreases in the speed of the traverse drive means;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With attention initially to FIG. 1 of the drawing the present invention is illustrated, for convenience, in association with a textile machine of the type manufactured and sold by Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., under its designated Model No. 555 False TwistTexturing Machine, said machine being adapted to impart false twist to strandular material S feeding from a sup ply (not shown) and being wound up in a package P. It will be appreciated that the machine includes a plurality of strand processing stations arranged at spaced locations along the elongated frame 10', and, indeed, the frame may have parallel rows of stations along opposite sides thereof. For purposes of the present disclothe driving rolls along a side of the frame are affixed to a common drive shaft 14 which is driven from a prime mover, such as an electric motor (not shown), which operates through a chain 16 and a sprocket 18 to rotate shaft 14 at a constant speed. Sprocket 18 is secured fast on shaft 14 by means of a key or the like not herein illustrated. Shaft 14 is supported in suitable bearings 20 in spaced frame members 22 of the machine 10.

A traverse rod 24 extends along each frame side substantially the full length thereof and parallel to shaft 14. Traverse rod 24 is supported for reciprocating movement in suitable bearings 26 affixed in the members 22 of frame 10. Traverse rod 24 carries a strand guide 28 affixedly thereon for each of the strand processing stations, one of the guides being set to receive a strand S at each station and traverse it from end to end of package P. Thus, it will be apparent that as strand S is moved to and fro from one end of package P to the other and as the package is rotated by virtue of its frictional engagement with rotating roll 12, the package will increase in diameter as the strand is coiled thereon. Traverse rod 24 is driven via means of a gear train and a cam arrangement which will next be described.

The gear train for reciprocating traverse rod 24 includes a spur gear 30 which is keyed to an extension shaft 32 coaxial drive shaft 14. Gear 30 is meshed in driving engagement with an idler 34 which, in turn, is meshed with a further idler gear 36. Said idler gear 36 acts to drive a bull gear 38 which is journaled on a shaft 40 supported from the frame 22. An epicyclic gear arrangement is carried on gear 38 and includes a gear 42, which is carried on a stub shaft 44 fastened in the face of gear 38 and which mates with a small non-rotating gear 46 fixed on a shaft 47 which is, in fact, a nonrotatable sleeve surrounding shaft 40. Thus, upon rotation of bull gear 38 gear 42 is similarly rotated about its axis through engagement with the fixed gear 46. A cluster gear 48 is fixed on the same shaft 44 as said gear 42. Consequently, upon rotation of gear 42 the cluster gear 48 is rotated. This latter gear 48 is drivingly meshed with a further driven gear 50 suitably mounted on a stub shaft 52 which is eccentrically fixed in the face of bull gear 38. Accordingly, gear 50 is rotated in response to rotation of gear 38. Gear 50 has a quadrant slot 54 therein, this slot acting to receive a bolt 56 which fastens a cam driving link 58 therewith. The end of driving link 58 remote from bolt 56 is provided with a stud 60 which connects the driving link with traverse cam 70. Cam 70 has a continuous generally helical groove therein for receiving a cam follower 72. Traverse cam 70 is fixed on shaft 40 for rotation at periodically increasing and decreasing speeds as the gear train is driven from the prime mover through chain 16. In response thereto traverse cam 70 is operable to impart its motion to traverse rod 24 to cause the yarn guides 28 to periodically increase and decrease speed as they operate to traverse the strand on packages P. A scattering device 76 may be provided for operation with the traverse rod 24, this scattering device being the same as that fully disclosed in commonly assigned U. S. Pat. No. 3,408,014 issued Oct. 29, 1968 to D. J. Fisher, Jr.

It has already been stated that superimposed on the distruptive action to the strand winding pattern as introduced by the periodic increasing and decreasing of the speed of operation of traverse rod 24 by means of the traverse rod drive mechanism just described, the present invention provides further means for interrupting the winding pattern and thus avoiding ribbons. In this connection the present invention provides a oneway slip clutch 80 which is suitably fastened to drive shaft 14 by means of a set screw 82 which passes through a hub 84 of the clutch, see FIG. 5. The hub 84 is part of a housing 86 which encloses the interior of the clutch. Within housing 86 there is provided a bearing cage 88 containing a plurality of needle bearings 90 which, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, engage with extension shaft 32. The bearing cage includes an outer race 94 which is of sleeve-like configuration and which is provided with a series of cam surfaces 96, one for each needle bearing 90. By virtue of this construction and as shaft 32 is rotated in the same direction as drive shaft 14 during the acceleration phase of the traverse rod drive the needle bearings 90 are caused to be cammed or wedged into a locked position between their respective cam surfaces 96 and the surface of extension shaft 32 as shown in FIG. 2. In this way a positive drive between drive shaft 14 and extension shaft 32 is provided and slippage is precluded. Consequently, traverse rod 24 follows precisely the accelerating speeds provided thereto by the afore-described gear train. However, when the gear train which drives traverse rod 24 is decelerating the housing 86 of clutch 80 is caused to overrun the rotation of shaft extension 32 by virtue of the difference in speed of drive shaft 14 and traverse rod 24 and thus afford slippage between drive shaft 14 and traverse rod 24. That is to say, drive shaft 14 is continually rotated at a constant speed by means of its direct, positive drive from the prime mover via chain 16 and sprocket 18 while the traverse rod is subjected to cyclically varying accelerations and decelerations induced by the epicyclic gear train which drives traverse cam 70. During the intervals of deceleration needle bearings 90 will tend to assume a position generally as indicated in FIG. 3 where they are relieved from engagement with their respective cam surfaces 96 to thereby permit low friction overrunning as drive shaft 14 and housing 86 connected thereto rotate faster than extension shaft 32. Bearing in mind that the inertial force of traverse rod 24, the parts connected therewith, traverse cam and the gear train driving the traverse cam is substantially, the total effect of the elements just recited will be to attempt to resist the decelerating action induced by the epicyclic gear train. Accordingly, clutch will be caused to shift between a position where the needle bearings are in driving contact with the cam surface 96 of race 94 as shown in FIG. 2 and in a disengaged position where bearings 90 are substantially free of contact with race 94 as shown in FIG. 3. This condition will be abruptly changed and variable throughout the decelerating phase of the traverse drive mechanism as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 6. In this view the solid lines indicate the traversing pattern assumed by strand S as it would be formed on the package if the traverse mechanism were under the strict control of the afore-described gear train .which operates positively to cause the traverse rod 24 and its guides 28 to accelerate and decelerate. In this view the dotted lines depict the pattern of the strand as it is formed in practice with phase of the traversing mechanism operates to randomize the wind of the coils of the strand onto the package and thereby preclude the formation of undesirable ribboning in the package.

Since certain changes may be made in the above described apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for winding an advancing strand into a package comprising, means for rotatably supporting a package, motive means for rotating the package at a substantially constant speed, means for traversing the strand onto the package as said package is rotated, drive means for operating said traversing means, regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of said drive means as the strand is traversed onto said package, and direction-selective means connecting said drive means and said motive means, said direction-selective means including engaging means operable when moved in a first direction to transmit to said drive means the motion of said motive means and page between said motive means and said drive means.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes a plurality of means for supporting respective packages, said motive means being adapted to rotate all of said packages at a constant speed, and said traverse means includes a separate traverse element for each package. Y

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said drive means is driven from said motive means, and said direction-selective means is disposed intermediate the drive means and motive means for simultaneously disrupting synchronism between rotation of each said package and the related strand being traversed thereon.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said direction-selective means is a clutch movable in said second direction in response to a force imparted during a decrease in the speed of said drive means to afford slippage between said motive means and said drive means;

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said traverse means includes an elongated rod adapted to support each said traverse element at a location thereon proximate to its associated package, means mounting said rod for reciprocation to cause each traverse element to reciprocate relative to its associated package to distribute a strand thereon, the rate of reciprocation of each said traverse element being varied in response to periodic increases and decreases in the speed of said drive means and slippage imparted as said clutch moves in said second direction. 

1. Apparatus for winding an advancing strand into a package comprising, means for rotatably supporting a package, motive means for rotating the package at a substantially constant speed, means for traversing the strand onto the package as said package is rotated, drive means for operating said traversing means, regulating means for periodically increasing and decreasing the speed of said drive means as the strand is traversed onto said package, and direction-selective means connecting said drive means and said motive means, said direction-selective means including engaging means operable when moved in a first direction To transmit to said drive means the motion of said motive means and operable when moved in a second direction to afford slippage between said motive means and said drive means to thereby disrupt synchronism between the rotatiOn of said package and traversing of said strand.
 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said direction-selective means is a clutch movable in said second direction in response to a force imparted during a decrease in the speed of said drive means to afford slippage between said motive means and said drive means.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes a plurality of means for supporting respective packages, said motive means being adapted to rotate all of said packages at a constant speed, and said traverse means includes a separate traverse element for each package.
 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said drive means is driven from said motive means, and said direction-selective means is disposed intermediate the drive means and motive means for simultaneously disrupting synchronism between rotation of each said package and the related strand being traversed thereon.
 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said direction-selective means is a clutch movable in said second direction in response to a force imparted during a decrease in the speed of said drive means to afford slippage between said motive means and said drive means.
 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said traverse means includes an elongated rod adapted to support each said traverse element at a location thereon proximate to its associated package, means mounting said rod for reciprocation to cause each traverse element to reciprocate relative to its associated package to distribute a strand thereon, the rate of reciprocation of each said traverse element being varied in response to periodic increases and decreases in the speed of said drive means and slippage imparted as said clutch moves in said second direction. 